


Please Don't Say You Love Me

by omg-kent-mashkov (Sotheylived)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Blow Jobs, Coming Out, Dirty Talk, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Friends With Benefits, M/M, No Strings Attached
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-28 22:18:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8465104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sotheylived/pseuds/omg-kent-mashkov
Summary: Alexei is pretty much perfect. He's bigger than Kent, owns a gym, is really good at giving blow jobs, and best of all he has absolutely no idea who Kent is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Warning, there is a scene where Kent is pinned and playfully tries to push Alexei off of him. There's hover text for translations and they're at the end as well.

While some athletes liked to clock in extra hours at the gym even after 8 hour practices, Kent's never been that guy - until three weeks ago. This new gym opened up less than ten minutes away from his apartment and after the first day Kent drove by, he was hooked. The place was nothing like a regular gym, there were giant rope swings and human sized hamster wheels, a trampoline room, rock climbing walls, zip lines, simulated surfing, and there was even an ice rink. The only thing the gym was lacking were weights and treadmills or anything he would normally expect to see at a gym.  

It was clearly designed with tourists in mind as a one off excursion when they got sick of the strip - a place for adults to act like kids in a judgement free zone. That was part of Kent's favorite thing about the place. Tourists rarely ever recognized him since few came to Sin City to watch hockey and he could fly almost completely under the radar. 

After spending a considerable amount of the off season at Tater's working through each of the activities, he was finally going to do the rock climbing (which admittedly sort of terrified him). Kent stepped up to the desk and smiled winningly at the girl behind the counter. 

"One for the rock climbing please," he said pretending as though it weren't taking almost all of his brain power to remain standing. 

The girl smiled up at him apologetically. "I'm sorry sir," she said, "but rock climbing is a pairs activity and we don't have any other singles right now. I can't guarantee that another single will come in, but if you'd like to wait you're more than welcome. Or you can try one of our other activities." She gestured at the brochures behind her. 

 Kent was honestly a little relieved that he could back out of the rock climbing, it's not as though anyone were forcing him, but still his ego wouldn't let him skip out intentionally on the principal of it. "Oh that's okay," he said, "Maybe I'll just do something that I've already done before." 

As Kent spoke the other reason he loved to come to this gym walked in to the front room. "Is there being a problem here Sarah?" the man said, looking between Kent and the girl. 

"We don't have any other singles here today and he wants to do the rock wall," she said, pointing to Kent. 

"That is no problem," the man said, with a smile, "I am being his partner today." 

Kent opened his mouth to object, he'd had to psych himself up to ask to do the rock climbing in the first place, and now he'd already started to relax knowing he wouldn't have to do it. But then the man clapped him on the shoulder and looked down at him with a smile, and he was really hot okay? and Kent was a weak weak person. 

"I am Alexei Mashkov, but you can call me Tater," he said, leading Kent down the hall towards the rock climbing area. 

"Kent Parson," he introduced himself, emphasizing his last name and studying the other man for a reaction. He smiled a little to himself when there was none. "Is this your place then?" 

"Ah yes, is all mine." Alexei said, gesturing to the glass room housing a half dozen people on hamster wheels as they passed. "I come from Russia to build." 

"It's really great," Kent said. "I've actually tried every activity so far except for rock climbing." He smirked as they passed the rink. "And ice skating," he added. 

"You skate next," Alexei said, opening the door to the rock room, "is great fun. I teach you." 

Kent laughed. "Yeah, we'll have to skate together sometime."

Alexei made quick work of getting Parse hooked up in the harness - honestly just a bit too fast for his liking because he was suddenly at the foot of a _really_ tall rock wall all set to go with a unfairly gorgeous man urging him on. Kent steeled himself before just going for it, stretching out every inch of his not- _that_ -small frame thank you very much, by reaching up for hand holds and using the rocks near his feet to propel himself forward. Finally after several minutes of scuttling up the wall he paused and turned to look how far up he was, certain that he must be nearly 25 feet off the ground.  

His feet were hovering around Alexei's head. Even though he wasn't as high as he thought, Kent's head started to swim. He clutched the wall a little tighter.

"Um," he called, thankful for the lack of other people in the rock room, "I think I'd like to come down now." 

"You are doing so well though," Alexei said. "Go to that rock there," he pointed at a bright blue false rock about three feet above where he was paused. "Then you come down." 

Kent shook his head, "No, no I can't do that." 

"How are you being ever better if you are not pushing yourself, yes?" Alexei moved forward and put his hand on Kent's leg. His fingers nearly wrapped all the way around his calf and Kent honest to god shuddered. "Move this foot here." Alexei patted a rock a little to the right and up from where Kent was perched. "We take it one step at a time." 

Kent swallowed hard and nodded, easing his foot over and maintaining a deathlike grip on the rocks in his hands. 

"Now follow with other foot," Alexei said, coaching him through the next few moves until Kent was able to tap the blue rock with the tips of his fingers on his left hand.

"Okay I touched it," Kent said, "Now let me down." 

"I am meaning you have foot on blue one," Alexei said.

Kent tried to glare down at Alexei but as soon as he saw how high up he was he started to sway and almost fell, scrambling to cling better to the wall. 

"I kid, I kid," Alexei smiled up at him. "Let go, Alexei has you." 

Kent took a deep breath and pried his hands and feet off the rock wall, and before he even had a chance to panic Alexei was slowly letting out the rope so Kent came down gently. As soon as his feet hit the ground Kent smiled in relief. 

"Now you do me," Alexei said, switching their gear with practiced ease. "Is only fair for partner to switch yes?" 

Kent nearly choked at that but Alexei paid him no mind as he started climbing up the wall. In mere minutes Alexei was at the top and hitting the bell. He smiled down at Kent, a big toothy grin before jumping off the wall. Kent had to scramble to slow his decent, rope nearly lifting him off the ground as he attempted to slow Alexei. 

"Show off," Kent muttered as Alexei touched down with finesse. 

"Is taking practice. You come back and try again?" 

Kent wanted to say no, he really did. He told himself he'd do the rock wall, and he'd done it, he could go back to the trampoline room or the hamster one now. But then he looked at Alexei's big beaming smile and found himself nodding. "Yeah," he said, internally kicking himself, "I'll try again." 

The broad arm slung over his shoulder was worth it. 

 

Kent came back an embarrassing number of times in the following weeks and each time Alexei dropped what he was doing to help him at the rock wall. Every time Kent went to the gym Alexei would make him go just a little bit higher and chirp him relentlessly if he came down before he made it until he'd try again. When Parse finally made it close enough to the top that he could ring the bell, he felt a swelling sense of pride not unlike the first time he ever scored a goal. And when Kent was high on euphoria he got stupid. As soon as he touched down he jumped up to embrace Alexei. The other man's arms wrapped all the way around Kent's waist. He felt dwarfed in the bigger man's grip. He liked it. 

"Come meet my cat?" 

"What?" Alexei said as they put their gear away. "I am not understanding. Is this a saying here?" 

Kent flushed he hadn't meant for it to come out sounding so stupid, but he wanted to get Alexei back to his apartment and that was the first thing he thought of. Kent scoffed to cover his embarrassment. "What? No. I am asking you if you literally want to come over and meet my cat. Her name is Kit Purson and she's adorable. If you don't want to fine, it's whatever." Kent pulled on his baseball cap from where he'd left it over the cubbyholes and started to walk past Alexei. He needed to leave now and never come back to his favorite gym because he was a fuckup and he should never have - 

"Okay." Alexei clapped him on the shoulder. 

"Okay what?" Kent asked, finally looking at Alexei. 

"I'll come meet cat. Let me tell Sarah she need to lock up and I do books tomorrow." 

"You do your own accounting?" Kent asked, unable to hide the surprise in his voice. 

Alexei sighed and looked at Kent in exasperation. It was the first time since Kent had known him that the man looked at him with anything other than happiness and Kent didn't like it. 

"People think I am being dumb because my English is not good," Alexei said, walking towards the front of the building. "Numbers are same in every language." 

Kent nodded. He was an asshole. It's not that he thought Alexei was stupid, he just - he didn't mean - he couldn't explain himself eloquently half the time and when he was around someone tall enough to break him in half and with a big dumb Russian smile he got even more tongue tied and lashed out for no reason. 

"Well it's not like you ever mentioned it before," he mumbled petulantly, waiting for Alexei to tell Sarah he was leaving. 

The gym wasn't exactly close enough to his apartment to walk honestly and most days he drove, but this morning Kent had taken an uber because he was a lazy ass and didn't feel like driving himself. And now he was regretting it because he invited Alexei back to his place but he can't even fucking drive them there and he can't risk taking an uber because the driver might recognize him and if he did then Alexei would know who he was and Kent could never see him again and not only that but it could out him and god he was such a fucking idiot, why did he think this was a good idea again? 

"You okay Parsnip?" Alexei asked, nudging his shoulder into Kent's. He looked down at Kent, with a small smile tugging at the corners of his warm brown eyes.  

Oh yeah, that's why. "Yeah I'm fine, it's this way." Kent led them briskly to his apartment and purposefully ignored thinking about what he was going to do once they got there. 

"So this is my place," Kent said, motioning to the ostentatious apartment. He bit back the urge to apologize for the nonexistent mess. It was a habit formed from childhood that he'd never really been able to shake. Up until he was embarrassingly old he thought that's what you were supposed to say when you invited someone in. _Hi thanks for coming. Sorry for the mess._

"Wow," Alexei said, gaze flitting from the black leather couch to the stainless steel kitchen, before landing back on Parse. "It is being nice. Now where is cat?" 

Kit came around the corner and immediately started running towards Alexei's legs. Alexei bent down to pick her up.

"Ah, I don't think -" Kent said, reaching forward to stop Alexei.  But Alexei already had her in his arms and the traitor was purring deep in her chest, nuzzling into his grasp. 

"I think she like me," Alexei said, turning to beam at Kent. Kent inhaled sharply - he wanted to kiss him. _God_  he wanted to kiss him right now. 

Kent reached forward to take Kit from Alexei's arms. As soon as the cat was in his grasp she began to flail and he half dropped - half set her on the ground. Alexei smiled at Kent questioningly and Kent didn't even know if the other man was gay or bi or whatever but there was one way to find out. 

Kent lunged forward and kissed him. Alexei's arms immediately wrapped around his waist (all the way around his waist) and Kent didn't bother suppressing the shiver of anticipation that it caused. Parse's kiss was rough and demanding, lips crashing into Alexei's with a near bruising force. He pressed his hips forward, hand slipping down to cup Alexei through his pants. 

Alexei pulled away and Kent drifted forward to chase the kiss, but was stopped by Alexei's hands firm on his shoulders. Kent stumbled back out of Alexei's grip, face flaming - he thought, he'd had thought that Alexei kissed him back. He thought they'd been flirting these past few weeks and - he was such a fucking idiot. 

"Kenny," Alexei said, stopping Kent's internal freak out. "What is rush?" He reached forward and grabbed Kent's hand, pulling him closer slowly. "We take time and enjoy, yes?" 

Alexei cupped Kent's face, warm palm resting on his cheek, eyes meeting his with startling sincerity. Kent had never really taken his time before. With - with Jack they'd only ever had stolen moments, a quick kiss here, a fast hand job there they'd never had the luxury of taking their time. And anyone he'd been with after that had been a nameless face he'd picked up in a bar, neither of them looking for anything more than a one time thing. Kent hadn't even realized it until this moment, but Alexei was the first man he'd brought back to his apartment that wasn't a straight professional athlete - or his mother. He banished the thought from his head before it could settle there and nodded a little shyly at Alexei. 

A small smile bloomed on his face. Alexei leaned forward, hand still cupping his cheek and kissed him syrupy slow and sweet, tongue just brushing lightly at the seam of his lips before retreating. Kent leaned into the kiss, letting Alexei set the pace. Alexei used his teeth, scraping gently against Kent's bottom lip. He moaned and rutted his hips against Alexei. 

Kent felt Alexei smile beneath his lips and peck the corner of Kent's mouth before pulling away. "Patience котенок," Alexei said leaning in to nip at Kent's mouth again. 

A whine escaped Kent's lips. He could only take going slow just so long. With a mischievous smirk Kent walked Alexei back until his knees hit the couch and he fell into a seated position looking up at Kent. Swinging a leg up onto the couch on either side of him, Kent straddled Alexei and ground his hips down once, twice, three times before kissing him hotly. Alexei thrust up almost unconsciously and Kent smiled. He'd shown him patience. 

 

A couple weeks later near midnight Kent lay completely boneless on Alexei's bed. He was going to miss the off season. There was come drying on his belly, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He should leave, it was getting late and if there was one thing Kent couldn't do it was stay the night. He shouldn't even be here really, if they kept doing this Alexei was going to start having more questions about Kent than he could answer. He should leave and stop answering the texts Alexei sent him with eyeless smiley faces and pictures of cats captioned  _kit is cuter,_  he should stop going to the gym and he should definitely stop having sex with Alexei. 

"I should go," Kent mumbled without making an effort of moving. 

"Mmhm," Alexei said, nuzzling Kent's neck. "Okay." Alexei started trailing a line of wet open mouthed kisses along Kent's jaw. 

"Lexei," Kent said, flushing at the whine coloring his voice, "I need to leave." 

Alexei lifted his lips from Kent's skin for a moment. "I am not stopping you." Alexei smiled and ducked down to suck at Kent's neck where it met shoulder, teeth tugging at the skin lightly. 

Kent tilted his head to bare his neck further. "That's not fair," he moaned as Alexei trailed kisses further down his chest. 

"You are wanting to leave?" Alexei said, lifting his head to look Kent in the eye, "Is okay. You leave. But I not stop kissing you until you out door, even then," Alexei shrugged. 

Kent threw an arm over his eyes dramatically. He could get up if he wanted to, but that was the problem, wasn't it - he didn't want to. Alexei licked a stripe up through the come drying on Kent's stomach and Parse's dick twitched in a valiant effort to get hard again. A moment later Alexei's hand was gently grasping his arm and pulling it away from his face, pinning it above him on the bed. 

"Stay?" he whispered, voice unbearably soft and his face inches from Kent's. 

Kent nodded. He could always sneak out once Alexei was sleeping anyway. So what if it was a dick move, Kent was kind of a dick anyway. Alexei smiled and leaned down, brushing their lips together with surprising gentleness for someone who had his dick in Kent's mouth a half hour earlier. "Good," he said wrapping his arms around Kent's waist and snuggling up behind him. 

Kent's heart was beating out an unsteady rhythm, he didn't do cuddling - cuddling was claustrophobic and uncomfortable. He sat perfectly still in Alexei's arms, hyper aware of the warm body behind him. Though the longer he lay there, the more his muscles lost their stiff posture and his heart rate slowed to match the steady beat behind him until his breathing relaxed and his eyes drooped. The warmth from Alexei's arm wrapped around him had Kent unconsciously shifting back a little further into the embrace. Alexei hummed a small pleased noise and pulled Kent a little closer, burying his face in Kent's neck. Kent's eyes drifted shut, he would just rest for a moment, he told himself, then leave before it was too late.  

When Kent woke the next morning he was disoriented,. He blinked his eyes open, clearing away the last vestiges of sleep. He was facing a periwinkle blue wall that was definitely not his. He'd slept well - surprisingly well really. Kent shifted to stretch and found his movements restricted by a muscular arm wrapped tightly around his waist and the warm body tucked in behind him. His heart stuttered for a moment before his mind caught up to the previous night. 

Kent tried to wiggle out from Alexei's grasp, but the arm on his waist was heavy and warm. A moment later lips met the bare skin of his back, a soft kiss pressed to his shoulder blade that turned into a smile. "You stay," Alexei murmured happily into Kent's skin. "I worry you leave in night, but you stay." 

"Wow what the fuck Alexei," Kent said bristling, "Do you really think that I'd sneak out in the night when you were sleeping? What kind of asshole do you think I am?" 

"Shhh," Alexei said, placatingly. Kent squirmed in his arms, trying to pry himself free from the bed when suddenly Alexei practically picked him up with one hand and manhandled him until he was on his back with Alexei hovering above him, one knee on either side of his waist. Kent's dick absolutely did not twitch to life with traitorous enthusiasm. "I _know_ you an asshole," he said, fingers brushing down Kent's jaw. "Is okay though, I like." 

Kent rolled his eyes. Okay maybe he'd been thinking about sneaking out, so sue him. He surged up beneath Alexei and captured his lips. Alexei kissed him back with vigor and soon enough Kent was rutting up against Alexei's leg with an embarrassingly needy whine slipping through his lips. Alexei pulled back and pecked Kent on the lips before lifting up off the bed and walking across the room to his dresser. 

"I am gentleman, I make you breakfast." 

Kent groaned and got up from the bed, walking across the room towards Alexei. "A gentleman," he said, grabbing Alexei's hand and guiding it towards his dick, "finishes what he started." 

Alexei smirked and dropped to his knees. _God_  and wasn't that was a pretty picture. Even on his knees Alexei was huge. He dipped down to lick at the head of Kent's dick through the fabric of his boxers and Kent moaned. Alexei's soulful eyes latched onto Kent's as he wrapped his lips around the head and sucked lightly. Kent nearly came right there. But all too soon Alexei pulled back and stood, pressing a soft sweet kiss to Kent's lips. 

"Patience котенок," he said with a half smug smile. 

Kent scowled and palmed his erection, shifting uncomfortably in his boxers before following Alexei out to the kitchen. 

Breakfast was surprisingly good and Kent didn't know what to make of that. He didn't do anything more than one night stands, he didn't do breakfast, he should have left when he has the chance - but then Alexei smiled, or laughed or said something that was butchered Russian and English smashed together and Kent had no clue what he was saying but he was so earnest about it that Kent couldn't help but smile back and _stay_. 

The season starts up again in two days, and with it Kent's free time will all but disappear. Sitting at Alexei's kitchen table more than half naked with a plate of fucking delicious waffles and a far too clothed man sitting across from him, Kent decided something. He'd give himself the last two days of the offseason to enjoy his time with Alexei, but once the season started he had to end things because the other man would be nothing more than a distraction and Kent couldn't afford to worry about it anymore. 

Kent was a goddamned idiot. He thought it'd be easier to quit Alexei once the season started and he was busy with pressers and practice and team bonding with the new rookies, but it just made him miss Alexei's bed - not the man because he doesn't miss people - not anymore - nope he didn't. 

It'd been almost two weeks since he'd last seen Alexei, they'd texted intermittently and on one memorable evening there had been some pretty fucking fantastic phone sex, but Kent just wanted to see him in person, was that too much to ask? So when they were let out of practice early Kent was already texting Alexei to see if he was at his apartment because he was not about to waste his first chance at getting laid in weeks. 

He was walking out of the locker room with his head down, eyes on the three little dots bouncing up and down on his phone when he bumped into Jeff. 

"Parser!" Jeff said jovially. "Just the man I was looking for. Mellow and I are taking some of the rookies out on the town, you in?" 

Kent looked up between Jeff and Mellow and plastered a smug grin on his face. "Already have plans boys."

There was some groaning and chirping, but Kent ignored it as he left the stadium. He nearly crashed into a light post on the way to his car with the way his nose was buried in his phone. Finally as he sat down in his car and started it, his phone buzzed with an incoming text. Kent scrambled to look at the message and almost elbowed himself in the face in his haste, which honestly would have been quite the accomplishment. 

_I am at bar with friends. You come? Then we go home after )_

Kent paused, he wanted to see Alexei, ugh he wanted to see him so badly, but he hadn't ever been out in public with Alexei - other than at his gym, which didn't count, not really anyway and it was a risk. Not only could he easily out himself accidentally, but if someone recognized him it could ruin everything. He had to be smart about this, he wasn't still successfully hidden in the closet by going out drinking with men he slept with. Kent resolved to tell Alexei he couldn't when his phone buzzed again. 

_I have miss you_

A half hour later Kent's uber pulled up in front of one of the newest clubs on the strip. Kent tried to tame his hair unsuccessfully before throwing his snapback on backwards and getting out of the car. As he walked through the doors to the club he could feel the bass of the music vibrating in his veins, he smiled. It'd been far too long since he'd been any place like this and he could use a drink. No one approached him as he walked through the club and Kent only noticed the faintest hint of recognition from one couple standing by the bar - he'd call that a win. 

He didn't have to search long to spot Alexei in a booth on the edge of the dance floor, booming laugh audible even over the music. Kent pulled his cap on a little tighter and waded through the crowd towards his - towards Alexei. He'd already plopped down into the empty spot beside Alexei before the man even noticed him. 

"Kenny!" he half shouted, broad smile overtaking his face. 

"Hey Tater," he said, using the nickname for once. "Are you going to introduce me to your friends?" 

Tater's smiled grew impossibly wide and he motioned at the three other people occupying the booth. "You know Sarah," he said, before gesturing to the other two men occupying the booth. "And this is Lewis and Clark," he said, gesturing at the others. 

"I'm actually John," the taller and broader of the two men said, "but these three insist on calling me Lewis." 

"That's because John and Clark sounds dumb," the other man said, reaching across the table to shake Kent's hand. "You must be Kenny." 

"I go by Kent," Kent said, turning to look at Alexei with a raised brow. Alexei smiled shlyly at him, with a pink flush high on his cheeks and broke his gaze, taking a large swig from his glass. 

"Hey," Sarah said, "we've got Lewis and Clark and Clark Kent here." She laughed prettily, flipping her dark hair away from her face.  

Lewis rolled his eyes in commiseration with Kent. "I hope you planned on drinking something strong," he said, knocking back his drink. 

Kent hadn't had this much fun in a long time. Alexei's friends were great, he'd made the mistake of calling Lewis John once and had been given a shot from Sarah, Clark and Alexei as penance. Lewis took one of the shots on his behalf, clinking his glass to Kent's with a smile. As the night wore on Kent got progressively more buzzed until buzzed became tipsy and tipsy became drunk.  

When Kent stumbled on his way back from the bathroom and half fell, half sat in his seat next to Alexei, the other man pulled his glass away. "Maybe Kenny should be drinking water now, since he just get here and is already falling." 

"Hey," Kent protested mildly with his head resting on Alexei's shoulder. 

"You really shouldn't try to keep up with a Russian and an Irishman when it comes to drinking," Lewis said nodding at Clark who was barely even buzzed after drinking more than Kent and Sarah combined. 

"That's why I stick to one drink for every three these two have," Sarah added. 

"I have a high tolerance," Kent mumbled nuzzling further into Alexei's side. 

Clark laughed and clapped Lewis on the shoulder. "That's what Lewis used to say until he woke up in my garden stark naked except for a flower crown that was wrapped around his-" 

"Shut up," Lewis grumbled, shaking off Clark's hand. "You promised not to make fun of me for that." 

Clark slid his black framed glasses back up his freckled nose and smirked at Lewis. " _I_  won't make fun of you, but Kent can." 

Kent turned his head, gazing up at Alexei who was watching his friends bicker with a smile on his face. Kent wanted to kiss him. He started to lean up to kiss the side of Alexei's jaw when Sarah jumped up from her seat. 

"Oh this is my song!" she said, grabbing Kent's hand and pulling him away from the booth and Alexei. "I hope you can dance better than those three." 

Kent followed along as she dragged him to the middle of the crowded dance floor. Sarah smiled, teeth shockingly white against her dark skin as started dancing with Kent. Kent liked bars, he liked the anonymity of being one in a crowd, he couldn't remember exactly why he liked being lost in the crowd at the moment, but he knew he liked it. 

After the third or fourth song Sarah said something Kent couldn't quite make out. 

"What?" he shouted. 

She leaned in close, chest brushing up against his shoulder as she shouted into his ear. "I'm too hot, I'm going to go get some air." 

Kent nodded but made no move to leave with her, he was enjoying himself far too much. She waved at him and disappeared into the crowd. Kent kept dancing. He dropped low, hips swaying rhythmically and hockey butt on display in his tight dark wash jeans. From the corner of his eye Kent saw a guy eyeing him and if Kent wanted to he could make eye contact and have someone to go home with tonight, but Kent already had someone he wanted to leave with. A few moments later there were big hands on his hips and a familiar voice in his ear. 

"Sarah say I should come keep eye on you," Alexei said, and Kent wanted to protest that he could take care of himself, but with Alexei's hands on his hips and his front pressed to Kent's back he couldn't find it in himself to complain. "She say other men looking at you." 

Kent turned around in Alexei's grasp so that they faced each other and rocked his hips into Alexei's. "Maybe you should scare them off," he said, smiling up at Alexei. 

 

Kent didn't know what Sarah was saying when she implied that Alexei couldn't dance, because _god damn._ Alexei's hands drifted around to his ass and his groin gyrated against Kent's, Kent panted into Alexei's neck, jeans growing uncomfortably tight. Kent felt stupidly safe, no one had recognized him all night and they were among friends. He _wanted_  Alexei, he was aching for his dick because it had been far too long. Kent let his hands drift down Alexei's chest to hover just above his waistband. 

Kent met Alexei's gaze for a moment before grabbing his dick through the thick fabric of his jeans. Alexei moaned at the touch and Kent grinned. His fingers went for Alexei's zipper. Distantly Kent was aware of a commotion at the front of the club. 

Alexei grabbed Kent's wrists and it was only then that he realized the other man had said his name three times already. Kent looked up at Alexei, whose eyes were above Kent's head, directed towards the noise at the front of the club as he pulled Kent's hands away from his crotch. 

Kent whimpered softly. He couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed. 

"Is not good idea in middle of club Parsnip." 

Kent pouted, lower lip jutting out as Alexei led him off the dance floor, hand still encircling his wrist. "Lexei," Kent whined, as they made their way back to the booth. "There's a perfectly good bathroom right over there." 

Alexei looked at Kent with amusement. "You want knees on cold dirty tile?" 

"Who said it'd be my knees," Kent bit back flirtatiously. 

Alexei leveled him with a look and Kent ducked his head, okay if anyone was getting on their knees in a club bathroom, they both knew it wouldn't be Alexei. Kent was about to ask Alexei if he wanted to get out of there when he heard the word _Aces._ Kent's blood ran cold and he yanked his hand out of Alexei's grip, eyes darting around the bar for the source of the sound. A bunch of people were shouting about the Las Vegas Aces, but Kent couldn't make out what exactly they were saying and fuck, fuck fuck fuck. 

Alexei leaned down towards him and Kent twitched away, afraid that he was coming in for a kiss. Disappointment flashed in Alexei's gaze before he plastered on a grin and whispered to Kent, "I know you are not out. Do not worry котенок I will not kiss you here." 

Kent tried to smile at Alexei, but he wasn't sure how successful he was based on the look of concern on Alexei's face. Finally Kent's eyes landed on the source of the excited shouts throughout the bar. Schmitty, Jeff, Mellow, Larkin and a couple of the other guys from his team had just walked into the bar. 

"Shit," Kent muttered, trying to figure out if he could leave the club without having to pass by the guys. There was an emergency exit back by the bathrooms, and honestly Kent wasn't too concerned about setting off the fire alarm right now if it meant that he could get out of here. "Come on let's go," he said, leading Alexei towards the exit. 

When they were a mere ten feet away from freedom a hand came down around his shoulder. Kent whirled around and was face to face with Jeff. 

"Parser!" Jeff shouted, and it was obvious the man was more than a little inebriated - Kent on the other hand felt suddenly stone cold sober. "So you blew us off to come to this place, really? I thought you were a better cap-" 

Kent shoved Jeff back and away from Alexei, with an apologetic glance thrown at Tater. 

"What the hell, man?" Jeff said, stumbling back. 

"I'm here with some friends," Kent said, releasing his grip on Jeff. "They don't know I'm a pro athlete and I'd like to keep it that way." 

"Why the fuck don't you want someone to know you play hockey?" 

Kent groaned and lifted his cap off his head, running his hand through his sweat soaked hair before shoving the hat back down. "They treat me like someone normal, not their rich famous hockey player friend, okay?" 

"You do you man," Jeff said, "I'll tell the other guys that our entire team of hockey players are just casually friends with Kent Fucking Parson." 

Kent knew sarcasm when he heard it but he didn't care. He glanced back and saw Alexei retreating to their booth. 

"Thanks Jeff," he said absentmindedly, walking away to escape back to Alexei. If he was quick about it, they could leave together and his teammates would be none the wiser. 

Kent had just reached the booth when Mellow and Jeff came up behind him. "So are these your friends that are too good for us Parser?" Jeff said, pushing Kent into Alexei's side of the booth before sliding in after him. Mellow grabbed a chair from a nearby table and swung it around to sit at the end of the table. 

"Well aren't you going to introduce us?" Mellow said, batting his eyelashes. 

Kent rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the line of heat sparking up his side where he and Alexei were pressed up next to each other from knee to shoulder. "Jeff and Mellow," Kent said, gesturing to his two teammates, "Sarah, Tater, Lewis and Clark." 

"I go by John actually," Lewis said, shaking hands with Jeff and Mellow from his seat squished between Sarah and Clark. 

"No he doesn't," Sarah and Clark chirped in unison. They high-fived over Lewis' head.  

Everything was fine at the moment, but Kent couldn't relax. He felt like his shoulders were at his ears and that any one of the glances he shot at Alexei would be the one to out him, or that Jeff or Mellow would slip up and reveal who he was. And if he didn't get his breathing under control soon, Kent was going to start hyperventilating. His heart rate was definitely faster than normal and he couldn't focus on the conversation and in about two minutes he was going to elbow past Jeff and get the fuck out of this bar when Alexei's hand came down gently on his thigh beneath the table. 

Kent turned to Alexei sharply. "You okay," Alexei said, and Kent couldn't tell if it was a statement or a question, but just having Alexei's hand on him, no matter how stupidly dangerous - even if the club was rather dark and the table mostly blocked the touch from view - was grounding. Kent swallowed hard and nodded. Alexei smiled, "This okay?" he asked, squeezing Kent's thigh lightly. 

Kent nodded again. 

"Good." 

Kent's heart rate slowed back to something normal and the longer they sat there the more calm he felt about the whole thing. He asked a passing waitress for water and it did wonders for clearing his head. When he finally stopped panicking he was able to enjoy himself and the knowledge that Jeff and Mellow were actually getting along with the group pretty well. Later when the rookies came over to say hi even Larkin wasn't an asshole. 

As the night wore on, Alexei's hand began to trace slow circles into the fabric of Kent's jeans. Kent wanted to melt into him. Alexei's hand moved from knee to hip, slowly circling wider. Kent shifted so his legs weren't pressed together quite so tightly and knocked into Jeff. Jeff looked at him quizzically for a moment before turning back to his conversation about the merits of cheese or some shit with Clark. Alexei's fingers dipped down to brush lightly against Kent's inner thigh before coming to rest at the juncture of his hip. Kent bit back a moan, trying his best to focus on the conversations at the table. 

Kent squirmed just the tiniest bit in his seat causing Alexei's palm to brush against his dick through his jeans. Alexei yanked his hand away and Kent jolted, knocking into the table. Sarah's empty glass went flying towards the floor, but Lewis caught it at the last moment. 

"You alright there Parser?" Jeff asked, eyes flicking behind Kent for a millisecond before landing back at him. 

Kent cleared his throat and resisted the urge to palm his now half hard dick through his jeans. "I'm fine," he said, resolutely avoiding looking behind himself at Alexei. "Just tried to rearrange myself and knocked into the table." 

"You're such a klutz man," Mellow said, words slurring slightly. "I don't know how you don't faceplant on the ic-" 

Jeff kicked Mellow under the table, who immediately looked at Kent apologetically and _god_ Kent needed to get out of here now before anything more fucking obvious happened. 

Just as Kent was thinking that Sarah spoke. "Kent," she said, saccharine sweet, so unlike how she'd spoken all evening, "You ready to get out of here?" 

Kent was confused, Sarah had to have known or at least suspected he was with Alexei. He came into the gym all the time for the man and she'd nearly walked in on them making out in the back office once. He opened his mouth to say no when Alexei nudged him encouragingly. 

"Uh, yeah sure," he said, throwing in a "Let's go babe," for good measure. 

Mellow and Jeff catcalled them as they shifted out of the way to let Kent escape the booth. A moment later Sarah got out of the other side and grabbed Kent's hand, half dragging him towards the front of the club. The moment they were outside Sarah dropped his hand. Kent turned to face her, sucking in a deep breath. He hadn't realized how sweaty and stuffy the club was until he breathed in the fresh night air. 

"Not that I wasn't anxious to get out of there," Kent began, fiddling with the brim of his cap, "but what's going on?" 

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Boys are so dumb," she said, pulling out her phone, tapping away for a moment before pocketing it. "If I hadn't gotten you out of there you would've stayed until you popped a boner." 

Kent began to protest but Sarah held up a hand to stop him. "Whatever, either way both you and Alexei were dying to get out of there. This way Alexei will leave in a minute claiming he's tired and you two will be able to take an cab off the strip and fuck to your hearts' content without outing yourself to your friends." 

Kent stared at her open mouthed. "Damn," he said, smiling as Alexei walked out of the club, "You're good."

She smirked at him then kissed Alexei on the cheek before hailing her own cab. "I know." 

It took all of Kent's willpower not to jump Alexei the moment they got into a cab. He didn't show the same restraint when they got into the elevators at his building and were finally alone. Kent stood in one corner of the elevator as Alexei occupied the other. The instant the doors clanged shut Kent lunged at Alexei, arms dragging his head down to meet Kent's, body rocking up into his. Alexei reciprocated immediately, hands wrapping around to grab his ass, moaning into his mouth as Kent's tongue slipped past his lips. Kent let his hands slide from Alexei's head down around to his stomach, fingers dipping below the waistband of his unfairly tight jeans. Teeth tugged at Kent's bottom lip and he was rock hard, dick pressing up uncomfortably in his jeans. 

Kent groaned as the elevator dinged at his floor, reluctantly pulling away from Alexei and wiping his mouth roughly with the back of his hand. The second they were in the safety of Kent's apartment Kent started stripping, throwing his clothes haphazardly behind him as they made their way to the bedroom. Kent sat heavily on the edge of the bed as Alexei pulled off his boxers and approached with a seductive smile. 

"I have been wanting you in my mouth all night," he said, dropping to his knees in front of Kent. 

Kent groaned, spreading his legs so Alexei could settle between them. Alexei shifted forward, hands set low on Kent's hips and wrapped his mouth around Kent's dick. Kent moaned, hips thrusting up unconsciously into Alexei's mouth. Alexei choked and pulled off Kent's dick with a wet pop. 

"Shit," he said, trembling with the effort it took to remain still, "Shit sorry." 

Alexei looked up at Kent through his thick dark lashes. He squeezed the hand resting on Kent's hip and smiled. "Is okay," he said, eyes blown wide, "I hold hips still for you." 

Before Kent could even form a response Alexei was swooping down and his lips wrapped around Kent. The little stuttering twitches of his hips were stopped by firm hands pinning him to the bed. Kent buried his hands in Alexei's hair and the man moaned around his dick, sound sending vibrations straight through him. _God_ he'd missed him - this - he'd missed this.

 

Kent woke with his head pillowed on Alexei's chest and his left arm and leg slung over Alexei's body. Kent sat up quickly, pulling away from Alexei. He was _never_ clingy like that. Kent's chest felt tight, like the skin was stretched too taught over his bones and started squeezing his heart and lungs instead. He shifted further away from Alexei, ready to slip from the bed when Tater rolled over in his sleep. Kent held his breath and started to ease off the bed when Alexei's arm reached out and started patting at the bed, he lifted his head blearily and Kent froze light a deer caught in headlights. Alexei mumbled something in Russian and grabbed Kent, pulling him gently. Kent resisted falling back into bed with him and Alexei repeated something in Russian again. 

"In English Lexi," Kent said slipping his arm out of Alexei's grasp. Alexei frowned and Kent turned away from him, shivering when his bare feet touched the wood floor. He padded over to the thermostat to turn off the air conditioning that he'd left on all night. 

"Is too early for English," Alexei murmured, "come back to bed." 

Kent wanted to, and that's exactly why he couldn't. 

 

Kent didn't ignore Alexei's texts the following week, but he didn't exactly initiate conversation either. They won both their away games but Swoops had gotten hurt during the last period of the second away game and he was out for their home game which just threw off the team dynamic on the ice. None of Kent's passes were connecting to Larkin and after the fifth misfire during the first period Kent was ready to explode. 

"Get your shit together Larkin," Kent shouted, passing back to Mellow. He skated towards their opponent's goalie, darting in and out between d-men until he was in the perfect position to score if Mellow would just get his head out of his ass and look up to pass the puck. 

"Mel-" Kent started to bite out when he got checked from the side, hard. 

"Is it true you used to suck Zimmerman's dick in the Q?" the fucker said, bumping Kent roughly again, "because a buddy of mine thinks you'd make a good little cocksucker - but I -" Kent's blood boiled, he spit at the man and shoved him hard, one second away from dropping his gloves when Larkin skidded to a stop next to him and pulled them apart, shaking him roughly. 

"We need you on the ice tonight Parser," he said. Kent fucking hated Larkin sometimes.

Kent shot one last glance at the defense man before resolving to settle this with points as opposed to fists. 

They lost - they lost bad. Seattle got four past their goalie and ended the night 4-1, and it wasn't just the loss that had Kent throwing his helmet into the lockers after the game, storming into the showers where not one of his teammates dared speak to him - it was the fact that if it weren't for so many stupid mistakes they could've won. 

If Swoops hadn't been benched, if their goalie hadn't come out of the net when Schmitty had it handled late in the third, if Larkin wasn't a fuckup, If Kent hadn't gotten that bullshit penalty in the second. If Kent was half the captain Jack was. The thought came unbidden and if the locker room wasn't fulll of his teammates he would've slid down to the floor of the shower and stayed there until the water ran cold. But as it was, Kent wasn't alone so he settled for thunking his head against the tile and letting the scalding water run rivulets down his back until the sounds in the locker room all but disappeared.  

He was so stupid. Kent had no idea why he was standing outside of Alexei's apartment building in the middle of the night after his game. He was so stupid, what did he think this would accomplish. After ringing the buzzer twice with no answer, Kent started to turn around. He'd go back to his apartment drain his liquor cabinet and torture himself watching the YouTube highlights from tonight's game, and if he was feeling really self-pitying, he'd go all the way back in a YouTube wormhole to the commentary when he ended up first draft pick instead of Jack. 

Kent was only two steps away from the building when the buzzer sounded as the door unlocked. His feet carried him up the three flights of stairs until he was standing outside of Alexei's door, hand poised in midair to knock. The door opened before he had a chance. 

"Kent?" Alexei said. His hair was damp and he was wearing nothing but the black boxers with cats in space on them that Kent had gotten him as a joke more than a month ago. 

Kent's lip trembled at the sound of his name on Alexei's lips. He was just so tired. 

"Kenny," Alexei said, voice unbearably soft. "You okay?" 

Kent tilted his chin up, blinking furiously and clenched his hands at his sides. He shook his head. 

"Oh моя любовь," Alexei said, stepping forward to wrap his arms around Kent. 

Kent fell into the embrace, stumbling forward as Alexei pulled them both into the apartment and shut the door behind them. Kent buried his nose in Alexei's shoulder, trying to swallow down the hitch in his throat. He wasn't going to cry, he hadn't cried since Jack's overdose and he wasn't about to start now, but then Alexei started murmuring nonsense words to him in Russian and smoothing his hand down Kent's back and it was like he was six years old again, scraped up and trying his damnedest not to cry until was warm and safe and promptly burst into tears. 

One choked back sob escaped and it wasn't just the stupid game, or the comment that fucker made, it was his father walking out on them when he was four, it was his sister being bullied so bad she begged to be homeschooled, it was his mom losing her job, it was Jack never loving him back, it was being gay in the NHL, it was every shitty thing that'd happened since he'd moved to Vegas, all coming crashing down at once. He hiccuped, trying valiantly not to cry obnoxiously into his fuckbuddy's shoulder. 

"Shhh," Alexei said, pulling back and pressing a kiss to the top of Kent's head. "Is okay Kenny. Shhh." 

Kent inhaled deeply, head still buried in Alexei's neck and calmed himself enough to feel horribly embarrassed about the whole thing. He lifted his head out from Alexei's neck slowly, aware that if he'd been wearing a shirt it probably would've been soaked through with snot and tears. "Sorry," Kent said, eyes fixed on Alexei's collarbone as he wiped the back of his hand across his face. 

Alexei cupped Kent's face and lifted up gently so Kent was facing him. Kent met Alexei's eyes for a moment before darting his gaze away. Kent's eyes were red rimmed and cheeks flushed a spotty red. With his palm still cupping Kent's jaw, Alexei brushed his thumb across Kent's cheek to wipe away a stray tear. 

"No," Alexei said, voice a little too firm and loud to be anything other than jarring in the silent apartment. "No sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for," he said with an earnestness that made Kent have to look away. 

Twenty minutes later they were watching some horrible Russian movie without subtitles because Alexei was convinced it'd be more fun if they made up a storyline since the movie was shitty anyway. Kent was sitting with hot chocolate half forgotten on the coffee table and his head pillowed on Alexei's shoulder. His knees were tucked up into his side and he snuggled closer to Alexei, pulling the blanket tighter around himself. He was exhausted from his emotional meltdown earlier and the combination of Alexei's fucking massive couch along with the shitty movie wasn't doing anything to keep him awake. Though, as Kent's eyes drooped and his breathing evened, he wondered if that wasn't Alexei's goal all along. 

Kent woke groggily the next morning, and the moment he realized where he was, he bolted upright. He was alone in Alexei's bed, where the man must've carried him after he fell asleep on the couch with far too much crying and absolutely no sex which was not how no strings attached arrangements were supposed to work. Kent glanced at the clock and groaned, 10:30. He was missing practice, he was going to get such shit about that. Throwing the covers back he got up and was about to search the room for his clothes when he realized he was still wearing them since he slept over at Alexei's _without_ fucking last night. 

Kent wanted to leave - but he wasn't a complete dickhead - so he walked into the kitchen where he heard the telltale gurgle of the coffeemaker. He reached to adjust his snapback before realizing he'd left it at the rink and aborted the motion. 

"Hey, um," he said, rubbing at the back of his neck. "So... thanks for last night. Sorry I'm such a mess." 

"Is okay," Alexei said, walking towards Kent. He reached out a rubbed a soothing hand up and down Kent's arm. "Feeling better today?" he asked. 

Kent nodded, shrugging out from Alexei's grasp. "Yeah. I'm super late for work so I'd better..." he gestured to the door. 

"Wait," Alexei said, reaching behind himself to grab the coffee pot. "You are wanting coffee?" 

Kent shook his head, "I don't have time." 

"I have thermostat," Alexei said, grabbing a thermos off the counter and filling it with coffee and an obnoxious amount of sugar. Kent would have been offended about the assumption of how much sugar he takes in his coffee if that wasn't exactly how he liked it. 

Kent had never mentioned how he took his coffee. He stared as Alexei handed him the thermos and pecked him on the cheek softly. 

"Have better day today, yes?" he said, pouring himself a cup of coffee that Kent knew he would take black and drink a large gulp before it'd cooled fully, burning his tongue - and how did he know that?

Kent felt off kilter the rest of the day. 

 

In the following weeks Kent had a string of away games that left him the worst combination of cold and sweaty at the same time. He'd talked to Alexei only a couple of times, too busy with travel and practice and games during the day and too exhausted at night. Even though practices and their rigorous game schedule wouldn't let up, Kent was still excited to finally be going home. He wasn't quite delusional enough to think that it was solely because he'd be seeing Kit again. 

The mood in the locker room was jubulous, they'd just come home off a winning streak and while they wouldn't have any days off anytime soon, at least the next three days were team meetings and practices as opposed to away games and pressers. Kent was sitting by his stall, having just pulled his shirt on when his phone rang. 

Alexei's name blinked up on the screen with a blue silhouette instead of a picture because Kent was a paranoid fucker. "Hey," Kent said, glancing up to see absolutely no one paying attention to his conversation. "What's up?" 

"I'm dying," Alexei said, sounding unnervingly calm.  

"What!?" Kent shouted, leaping up from his stall as though standing would help bear the weight of the news somehow. 

"Yes," Alexei said and Kent's heart felt like it was going to shrivel up and fall out of his chest. "Doctors say only cure is your mouth on my dick." 

"Oh my _god,"_ Kent said, plopping back down onto the bench. "You fucker! I thought you were actually dying - not that you just wanted my dick." 

"I am wanting your mouth," Alexei said, "not your dick." 

Kent rolled his eyes and huffed out an involuntary laugh. "Holy shit, you asshole. I hate you." 

"No you don't." Alexei hummed into the line and Kent could practically hear his smile. "You want to get on your knees for me. I know you are liking when my dick is in your mouth. You are always saying 'mmhm mumf lexi uhh yeah,' when your mouth is not being busy," Alexei said moaning indecently through the line in a far too accurate impression of Kent with his mouth full of cock. "And remember last time you come home Kenny?" Kent's mouth was dry and he shifted a little uncomfortably on the bench. "You are being so happy to have dick in you mouth you come when I not even touch you. Think I can make happen again tonight?" 

"Geez - fuck," Kent said, "You're going to make me get a boner at work you fucker." As soon as the words left his mouth Kent remembered where he was. He tilted his head up and saw every single one of his teammates within hearing distance staring at him. 

"I've got to go," he said quickly, hanging up the phone without waiting for an answer. 

The moment he hung up the room burst into a cacophony of noise. 

"OH MY GOD!" Mellow shouted, covering one of the rookie's ears. "THERE ARE CHILDREN PRESENT." 

"Did you seriously just have phone sex in the locker room?!" 

"Get it Parser!" 

"Is that the Sacagawea girl we met a month ago at the bar?" 

"Shut up Larkin her name wasn't Sacagawea you ass!" 

"I wasn't being racist - you guys always think I'm being racist - her friends names were Lewis and Clark for God's sake -" 

"Alright," Jeff said, throwing his hands up into the air, "Alright boys, enough chirping the captain - and Larkin. Let the man leave for his night in peace with the knowledge that all you assholes are going home alone." 

There were scoffs of protest, but for the most part the chirping quieted after that. Kent threw Jeff a grateful smile. 

"Don't think that doesn't mean I won't chirp you ruthlessly later," he chirped. 

Kent wondered briefly what the team would think if they knew who he was actually sleeping with and didn't think it was Sarah. Kent shook the thoughts from his head and gathered up his things, giving the team a one fingered salute as they catcalled him on the way out the door. 

 

He'd been spending the night at Alexei's more and more often, when he was in Vegas at least - but it wasn't for anything other than convenience. Because why leave in the middle of the night and grab a cab back to his place, risking a scandal, when he could just stay over. Plus if he spent the night that meant he could get a round two or even three if neither of them had anywhere to be in the morning. Seriously, it was just the convenience of it, not because he liked waking up with their feet tangled together, or falling asleep with his head pillowed on Alexei's chest, steady beating of his heart soothing Kent into a deeper sleep than he ever got alone - nope definitely not. 

Kent was perched on Alexei's couch with a Russian to English dictionary in his lap, attempting to learn dirty words in Russian while Alexei made pancakes in the kitchen. Kent was trying to find something a bit dirtier than _kiss me_  when Alexei's phone started ringing from beside him on the sofa. 

"Lexi," Kent called absentmindedly, "your phone's ringing." 

Tater came into the room, wiping his hands on his apron before grabbing his phone and flopping down on the couch beside Kent. There was a dot of flour on the tip of Alexei's nose and Kent reached up to lick it off as Alexei answered the call. Kent didn't realize the call was on facetime until he saw Alexei holding the phone away from his ear. Kent gave an embarrassing squeak and pulled away from Alexei, thankful that the video hadn't come up yet. 

Alexei greeted his mother in Russian, smile large and happy. Kent started to shift, planning on going out into the kitchen to give the pair privacy because even though he couldn't understand what they were saying he still felt awkward about sitting right there as they spoke. Before he could leave though, Alexei was grabbing his wrist, eyes wide and smile shy when he said, "Stay?" 

Kent glanced at the screen and noticed that with Alexei's movement he was now in the frame. He nodded slowly and sat back down. Alexei let go of Kent's wrist, but kept a warm hand on Kent's thigh. Kent shifted a little on the couch and waved at the camera. 

"Is this American boyfriend?" Alexei's mother asked in heavily accented English. 

Kent sat up quickly, dislodging Alexei's hand from his thigh. "Um, no - it's not - we're not - what I mean is-" 

"He is being my friend mama," Alexei interrupted, cutting Kent off. He angled the phone so Kent was no longer in view. "не мой пареньон ." 

"Вы думаете, что я не могу сказать, ты влюблена в этого мальчика?" Alexei's eyes went wide and he glanced at Kent before shaking his head. "не смей мне врать," she said and Alexei clamped his mouth shut. Kent was feeling increasingly awkward but didn't want to call attention to himself by moving. "Вы говорите о своем друге все время. Я называю в семь часов утра, и он находится в вашей постели. Я не глуп, не действуют, как будто я ." 

"это диван," Alexei said weakly, gaze on his lap. 

"какие?" 

"то не кровать," Alexei said, "это диван."

Alexei's mother scrunched up her face and peered closely at the screen. "You too American now," she said in English, "getting couch big enough for being bed." She harrumphed. "I want to talk to boyfriend." 

"Mama," Alexei complained, cheeks heating up. 

"It's okay," Kent said, not looking at Alexei as he reached for the phone. "I'll talk to your mother." 

Alexei looked between his mother and Kent for a moment before sighing. "быть хорошим (Be nice)," he said, before handing the phone to Kent. 

"Hello," Kent said, glancing at Alexei before waving to the camera. 

"Is he there?" 

Kent tilted the camera so Alexei was back in the frame. 

"No," Alexei's mother said, "leave Alexei." 

"Mama," Alexei started to protest before he was cut off with a sharp look from his mother. He huffed and left the room. 

Kent turned the phone so he was centered in the frame and fidgeted on the couch. "So.. uh," he started. 

"You have good job?" 

Kent cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah - yes I do." 

She nodded. "Good. Are you being out of closet?" 

Kent glanced behind himself towards the kitchen. He shook his head. "No - not really, no." 

"Tsk," she clucked. "That is no good. You have two months to tell mother." 

Kent scratched behind his neck. "She knows already actually." 

Mrs. Mashkov's stern face broke out into a small smile. "Good. Six months for leaving closet." 

"I don't - I'm not sure if that -" 

She held up a hand to halt him. "Alexei hided himself in Russia, he not going back now in America. Six months." 

Kent nodded dumbly. He wasn't keeping Alexei in the closet. If the man wanted to be more fully out he could - just without Kent - because it wasn't like they were dating or anything anyway so Kent wasn't keeping him from anything. 

She nodded, seemingly appeased before she spoke once more. "You are loving my son?" 

Kent's eyes widened and his heart rate accelerated far too quickly. "I - uh - it's complicated - not that I don't care - I do but um -" 

After several long moments trying to remember how to speak Alexei's mother saved him. "Shhhh is okay. Do not be telling me before Alexei." 

Kent clamped his mouth shut, sure his face was on fire. 

"Treat Alexei right," she said, Kent nodded dumbly. Apparently satisfied she asked to speak with her son once more. Kent went out into the kitchen a moment later and gave Alexei back the phone, plopping down at the little corner table while he waited for them to say goodbye. Kent drummed his fingers on the wood. He and Alexei were nothing more than friends with benefits, it just threw him off to meet the other man's mother so to speak, and to be asked questions that did not apply to him because he wasn't some lovesick boyfriend ready to settle down or something - Alexei didn't even know what he did for a living for godsakes. 

Kent was jolted out of his thoughts when Alexei placed a plate stacked high with pancakes in front of him. Kent glanced up at Alexei to see him smile sheepishly. 

"Sorry about my mother," Alexei said, hovering awkwardly as if he wasn't sure he could take a seat at his own table. 

Kent shrugged. "It's alright man, let's just have breakfast." 

Alexei nodded, taking his seat. They ate in companionable silence and it wasn't until Kent was eating his last pancake that Alexei broke it. "I am not telling her you are boyfriend. I know you and I are not - we are not being," Alexei huffed in frustration and pushed his nearly full plate of pancakes away from him. "My mother is making -"

"Hey," Kent said cutting him off. He reached forward and clasped Alexei's hand that was tapping out a nervous pattern with his fork. "It's fine Alexei." 

Alexei look up and met his eye. He nodded once with a small smile, turning his hand over in Kent's and giving it a small squeeze. 

 

Kent spent more time at Alexei's than his own apartment any time he was in Vegas in the weeks following the phone call with his mother. It's not that he was trying to act like Alexei's boyfriend or anything, because he wasn't, he was just making the most of his time in Vegas before he had to go on the road again. Kent had hung out with Lewis, Clark and Sarah again when Alexei had them all to the gym after hours one evening to mess around. He couldn't go too hard on the equipment since his coaches would definitely murder him if he got hurt, but it was still fun. Kent was happy that Tater's friends seemed to like him, and his friends liked Alexei too because one night after practice Jeff invited a Mellow and Kent along for dinner at his place and even told Kent to bring Alexei along. 

There was a home game that Friday though, so instead of hanging out with Alexei, Kent went straight home from practice on Thursday to get a good night's sleep. He played with Kit for a while, feeling guilty for having neglected her a bit this week, until she got annoyed with him and escaped to her little condo. Then he watched some tape from Providence's last few games before getting dressed in his pajamas and going to bed. 

He tossed and turned and it was as if he'd forgotten how to sleep. He couldn't seem to stay still for more than a moment before he found himself turning. He was too hot with the covers on and too cold with them off. He got up and changed the thermostat so that it was set to a ridiculously cold temperature and burrowed in his covers. But then he got to thinking about how stupid that was and even though he had money to waste, growing up he would've hated some privileged jerk who had the air conditioning cranked when it was 50 degrees out in January. Kent groaned and threw the covers off, shivering as he moved to turn the air off and open the windows. Even though he was nowhere near the strip there was city traffic outside his window and every sound grated on him until he got up and slammed the windows shut. Kit had long since abandoned him, nosing open the bedroom door and escaping into the living room more than an hour ago. Kent sighed and rolled to face his clock. The green numbers were glowing lowly in the dark; 2:17am. 

"Ughhh," Kent moaned, padding into his bathroom. He turned on the light and was blinded for a moment, squinting and blinking furiously until his eyes adjusted to the light. He opened his medicine cabinet and rummaged around until he found the half empty blue-green bottle of NyQuil. Kent almost never used it to help him sleep anymore, not after what happened to Zimms. But desperate times... He filled the cap and downed the liquid, grimacing at the taste before returning it to the shelf and heading back into his bedroom. 

At first he thought the NyQuil wasn't working and he'd have to play a game on no sleep, but he must've fallen asleep at some point because all too soon his alarm was blaring. 

When Kent suited up for the game he remembered another reason why he didn't rely on the medicine to help him fall asleep. He was so incredibly tired. His limbs moved sluggishly, as though sifting through molasses. Kent splashed icy water on his face and felt marginally better. 

The game was horrible. The Aces won, no thanks to Kent. He'd been far slower than usual and only taken one shot on the goal before the coaches switched out to second string. Kent jittered his leg as he sat watching his teammates play. He stretched his hands within his gloves, trying to wake himself up. All too soon he was back on the ice. He had the puck and was zipping through opponents like he always did, the only problem was he wasn't going quite as fast as he always did. And all too soon a d-man was slamming into him from behind, sending him flying face first towards the ice. His hockey stick broke his fall, jamming up into his ribs and sending him crashing down onto the ice for a completely different reason. He hit the ice with a thwack that was louder than the sound of blades on ice and roaring crowd.

Kent sucked in a gasping breath, and nearly passed out from the pain in his side. He was distantly aware of the whistle blowing and the game stopping. If he could focus on something other than the sharp pain in his side, Kent probably would've felt guilty for causing the delay, but as it was he couldn't feel anything other than pain. His coaches were in his view a moment later, and with their help he hobbled off the ice, leaning on them heavily. 

By the time Kent was out of the trainers room the game was over and they'd won. Swoops and some of the other guys tried to console him, but Kent dismissed their pitying murmurs and soft pats on the back. They weren't the ones who'd be out for two weeks. Stupid fucking bruised ribs. 

After an excruciating team meeting, returning calls from both his mother and his sister, and presser Kent was finally released. He wasn't planning on driving to Alexei's, but somehow he ended up parked out in front of his apartment. Alexei wrapped Kent up in a warm loose embrace the moment he entered the apartment, kissing him long and sweet. Kent didn't want sweet tonight, he was pissed about not being able to fall asleep and making such a stupid decision, he was pissed about the fucking Falconers for causing his injury with a completely legal check. 

"Fuck me Alexei," Kent said, pushing Alexei towards the couch, kisses growing hungry. Kent pushed Alexei back onto the couch and followed after him, taking a sharp pained inhale when his ribs twisted painfully as he shifted to straddle Alexei. 

"Shhh," Alexei said, pulling back from the kiss and running his fingers lightly up and down Kent's back. "Not rough tonight, we go easy, yes?" 

Alexei mouthed at Kent's neck, pressing wet open mouthed kisses along his jaw. Kent moaned and tilted his head back, exposing his neck further. Alexei's hands dripped down to Kent's waist and Kent arched up, immediately regretting the action when it sent pain shooting up his chest. 

"Shit," he breathed, curling in towards Alexei and panting quick shallow breaths into his neck for a moment. 

"I am thinking I take care of you tonight," Alexei said, brushing his hand through Kent's hair before kissing him gently on the top of his head. "You are needing to take it easy after hit, yes?" 

Kent froze. He pulled his head out from Alexei's neck slowly. "What did you just say?" he asked, voice completely void of emotion. 

Alexei ducked his head for a second before meeting Kent's gaze almost defiantly. "I am saying that you were hurt on ice tonight. We should be taking it easy." 

Kent flew off of Alexei's lap, not even feeling his ribs as the words washed over him. _Alexei knew_. He knew, he knew. The words were on repeat in his head, blocking out anything else. "You knew?" he finally managed to say. 

Alexei nodded, standing slowly as though Kent were a skittish deer. 

"How long have you known - did you know this whole time - oh god was this some sick game for you? Fuck the closeted pro athlete for shits and giggles because he doesn't - " 

"NO," Alexei said firmly, reaching out before faltering. "No. I am not knowing when we meet. I like hockey. I did not know when we meet because I am being new to town and not knowing much about local hockey team. I found out when preseason start - two weeks after we - after I am meeting Kit." 

Kent's hands were buried deep in his hair and his breath was coming in short shallow gasps. "So what you're saying is you've known for _months_. Why didn't you fucking tell me?!" 

"Because I am being afraid you will react like this," Alexei's voice turned pleading and Kent's chest hurt. "I was waiting for you to be ready to tell me." 

"Oh my god," Kent said because it felt like his whole world was coming crashing down around him. 

"This is not having to change anything." Alexei did reach out for him this time, hand settling gently - tentatively, on Kent's arm and that more than anything shook Kent out from his stupor. 

"This changes _everything."_ Kent's voice was thick as he shook out of Alexei's grasp. _"_ I have to go." Kent spun on his heel, unwilling to look at Alexei's face when he spoke again. "I think we should stop this - whatever this is - was - I should've ended it a long time ago." 

"Kenny, wait." 

Kent ripped open the apartment door so roughly the hinges squealed in protest. He may have been moving slowly from the pain in his ribs, but he was running all the same. Door left swinging open behind him. 

 

Practice sucked. He couldn't play so he had to just sit there and watch his team without him. Jeff tried to get him to hang out afterwards but Kent brushed him off, using his ribs as an excuse. The rest of his week followed in much the same way, go to practice, pout, blow off any of his teammates trying to get him to hang out, go home, feed Kit, play with her while being pissy, then go to sleep and repeat. A week after getting hit Kent called his mother. 

"Kent, baby what's wrong?" she said as soon as she answered the phone. 

"Why does something have to be wrong for me to want to call you?" 

"Hmm," she said, voice tinny through the line of her old cell. She refused to give it up because 'it works just fine and I'm not going to become some spoiled woman of leisure just because my son is a professional athlete Kent'. The sound was reassuring nonetheless. "Let me see, you called me last week after you nearly had to be carried off the ice - which by the way I did not appreciate having to wait three hours to hear from you - I know you were busy getting tests done," she said cutting Kent off before he could even take a breath to protest. "But you could've at least called your mother to let me know you weren't dead. And before that you called me when you thought Kit ate a nickel - which turned out to have gotten wedged beneath your floorboards, and I'm pretty sure that the last time you called me before that was when you pulled a muscle jumping on a god forsaken trampoline this summer. Shall I go on?" 

Kent sighed. It's not as though they never spoke, it's just that Kent's mother called enough for them to keep in touch, so Kent never saw the point in calling her first.

"Kent," she said again, softer. "What's the matter sweetheart?" 

Kent shrugged, even though the gesture was useless and momentarily wished he'd thought to facetime her. Though that made him think of facetiming Alexei's mother and the excessive gestures needed to hold a conversation and that was definitely not something he wanted to be thinking about at the moment. 

"Is it that boy you're seeing?" 

"What?" Kent said, head snapping up to attention. He'd never so much as mentioned Alexei's name. 

"Oh don't sound so surprised," she admonished him, "for months every time I called you it was all _I'll call you back later mom, I've got a friend over mom, my friend this, my friend that, you remember that friend I mentioned before? His mother called me last week I don't even know how she got my number and it was so funny 'cause she only speaks Russian mom."_ Kent's mother had gotten pregnant young, and sometimes Kent forgot that she was barely over 40 and could chirp better than half the guys on his team. 

"Mom," Kent said, cutting her off.

"Sorry baby," she said, sounding only slightly chastised. "Tell me what's the matter and I won't tease. I promise." 

And suddenly everything Kent'd kept bottled up came spilling out. He told his mother about meeting Alexei at the gym and hitting it off. He told her about hooking up with him (glossing over any details). He told her about becoming friends of sorts with him and spending more time over there and how he hadn't been able to sleep the past week and that it turned out Alexei had been lying to him the entire time. Kent's eyes started to get wet as he went on; he swiped at his face furiously. 

"And he was just tricking me the whole time," he finished, inhaling shakily. 

"Kent," his mother said, speaking for the first time in minutes. "Have you considered the idea that maybe Alexei wasn't out to get you."

Kent scoffed. "Then why the fuck wouldn't he have told me he knew who I was?" 

His mother tutted at his language, but made no comment. "Maybe because he was afraid he'd lose you." 

"You can't be seriously taking his side." Kit hopped up onto Kent's lap and began pawing at his shorts. Kent reached out to stroke her and was met with a hiss. He pulled his hand back and let her keep kneading his shorts, wincing occasionally as her nails bit into his skin.  

"I'm not taking anyone's side, I'm just saying that you seemed really happy when you two were dating - "

"We were never dating." 

"Regardless," she continued, "every time we've spoken in the past three or four months, excluding last week, you've been happier than I've heard you in a long time. And I don't known this Alexei, but if he had anything to do with that I think you owe it to yourself to really think hard about why." 

Satisfied with her work, Kit finally settled on Kent's lap. "Even if I did want to forgive Alexei - which I'm not saying I do - I'm still in the closet mom. I can't - it's not like I can - it's not as simple as you make it out to be." 

Kent's mother sighed. "You don't have to stay in the closet forever honey." 

Kent only wished it was that easy. 

 

A week later and Kent was cleared to play. The other guys were to avoid checking him in practice at least for a couple days, but Kent was just glad to be back on the ice. 

He was shitty on the ice, and it pissed him off. He tried not to take it out on his teammates but that just meant that he was mostly ignoring everyone as he got dressed back into his sweats after work. 

"Hey Parser," Jeff said, slinging an arm over his shoulder. "Linda is gone visiting her sister with the kids this weekend, what do you say you come over and I'll fire up the barbeque?" 

"Thanks man," Kent said, trying unsuccessfully to slip out from under Jeff's arm, "but I'm pretty tired - " 

"That's cute," Jeff said, cutting him off, "Hey Mellow isn't it cute that Parser thought I was asking." 

Mellow laughed from across the locker room. "You'd better just give in now Kent. Last week I said no and woke up at seven am to this asshole trying to break into my apartment." 

Kent looked at Jeff who met his gaze unflinchingly. Kent sighed and followed him out of the rink and to their cars, all the way to Jeff's little suburban home. Kent considered taking a wrong turn and heading back to his place but he didn't want to unleash Jeff's wrath. He pulled into Jeff's obnoxiously long driveway after the man himself and only sat in the car a moment before following him around back. 

By the time Kent sat down in one of the patio chairs, Jeff already had the grill lit and had grabbed a couple of steaks from their freezer. They talked about hockey for a bit, their prospects for the season, how his three year old Harper refused to be called anything other than Elsa, and had to be wrestled out of her costume every morning. Finally as Jeff pulled their steaks off the grill he turned to Kent, mouth set in a grim line. 

"So are you going to tell me what's going on with you Kent, or do I have to tell you myself?" 

Kent knew this was coming. While Jeff liked to have the guys over all the time, he wasn't usually quite so forceful with his invitation. "Nothing," Kent said, cutting his steak in half. 

"Okay," Jeff sighed. "Guess we're doing this the hard way. Beer?" he asked, reaching into the outdoor mini fridge they had built into their barbecue area. 

Kent nodded and took the outstretched beer before Jeff reached back and grabbed another for himself. 

"Did Alexei break up with you?"

Kent choked on his beer, throat burning as it went down the wrong way. Tears pricked at his eyes as he coughed uncontrollably for a long moment. When Kent was finally able to breathe again he looked up at Jeff. "Alexei and I - we weren't - we were never," Kent cleared his throat again, "there was nothing to break up." 

Jeff scoffed as he took a swig of his own beer. "Dude are you trying to tell me that the two of you weren't fucking, because honestly man how dumb do you think I am?" 

"I'm not -" _gay,_ Kent was going to say, but the word got stuck in his throat. And why lie? He'd been lying for so long and Jeff knew - or at least thought he knew - and didn't look disgusted, or like he'd out him to the world so Kent swallowed heavily and opened his mouth to speak.

Jeff put up a hand to halt him. "Before you lie to me," Jeff said, "I'd just like to remind you that I was there at the bar after the game against the Schooners when you were practically getting a handy under the table." 

Kent snapped his jaw shut and felt a flush spread from his cheeks to the tips of his ears. "We weren't - I wasn't going to -" Kent put his head in his hands, "I didn't think you guys saw." 

Jeff reached out and touched a hand to Kent's shoulder. Kent pulled his head out from his hands and looked at Jeff. "Mellow was three sheets to the wind, plus he's blind as a fucking bat when he's not wearing his contacts so I'm pretty sure you're safe - though he wouldn't care man, none of them would. Plus I probably wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't already wondering why the hell you wouldn't want your friend to know you were a hockey player. Then when his hand disappeared under the table and you damn near melted between us I sort of got the picture. You nearly knocking the table over was really just a confirmation at that point." 

Kent groaned. It's not that he thought he was being _that_  careful, but fuck he hadn't realized quite how careless he'd been. 

"Hey," Jeff said, calling Kent's attention back on him again. "So what's going on? Did you two break up?" 

Kent shrugged. "There wasn't anything to break up." 

"So you were just screwing around."

Kent nodded, eyes on his beer bottle, tracking the condensation trickling down the side. 

"How often did you see or talk to each other? 

Kent picked at the label on his bottle, paper thick and malleable in its wetness. "I don't know, every day - every other day." 

"Did you spend the night at each other's place?" 

Kent looked up from his beer and met Jeff's gaze. "Yeah." 

"You ever spend the night and not fuck?" 

"You ever make each other breakfast?" 

Kent thought back to the last morning he and Alexei had spent together. He'd woken up before Alexei and slipped out of bed padding around in his boxers determined to make breakfast for Alexei for once. He'd gotten distracted thinking about Kit snuggled up against Alexei's side and ended up burning the bacon. The pancakes, while not burnt were somehow both soggy and chewy at the same time. He was about to throw it all in the garbage when Alexei had walked in from the bedroom. 

"You make me breakfast?" he'd asked, smile lighting up his entire face. 

"Yeah don't make a big deal out of it - like it probably tastes's like shit. I'm just going to throw it out." 

Alexei had grabbed Kent's wrist, stopping him from dumping the plate into the garbage. "No, you make it for me and I am wanting it." 

Kent had rolled his eyes, having to bite down on his lip to keep from smiling. "It's your funeral," he'd said. 

Alexei had claimed it was delicious, moaning throughout the meal and practically licking his plate clean. Kent on the other hand was unable to stomach more than a few bites. Once Alexei was done eating he'd lifted Kent up off the ground, spinning him around in circles. Kent laughed breathlessly, arguing unconvincingly for Tater to set him down. When Alexei finally set him down he kept Kent trapped in the circle of his arms and kissed him thoroughly. 

Kent couldn't meet Jeff's eyes as he nodded silently.  

Jeff tilted his beer at Kent in a silent toast. "Hate to break it to you buddy, but you definitely weren't just screwing around." 

Kent took a sip of his drink, unsure of how to respond. 

"So is that why he broke things off?" Jeff asked, "He wanted to actually acknowledge that you guys were dating and you had your head up your ass?" 

Kent slapped Jeff upside the head. "No you asshole. I ended things with him, okay?" 

Jeff raised a brow and stared at Kent until he continued. He explained the whole thing, how Alexei had lied to him and known who he was for months. 

"Wow," Jeff said when Kent was done speaking. 

Kent nodded in agreement. 

"You are so fucking dumb." 

"What?" Kent asked, bristling. 

"Fuck Parser, you have been in a shitty mood for two weeks because _you_  broke things off because he figured out what you do for a living?"

Kent scoffed. "It's not that he knows I play hockey," Kent said, steak left forgotten on the table. "It's that he lied to me for months." 

"Sort of like how you lied to him about the exact same thing the entire time you've known him?" 

"That's different." 

"Whatever you say Parser," Jeff hummed, tilting his beer back and finishing it off. 

Jeff thankfully let the subject drop after that and they finished their now cold meal in silence. After dinner Kent got roped into a game of pool, but his mind kept wandering to Alexei. "Have I really been noticeably different lately?" he asked out of the blue after Jeff knocked in three balls. 

Jeff huffed out a laugh. "Yeah man. At first I thought it was just 'cause you weren't cleared to skate, but then when you were still in a shit mood today I figured it had to do with Alexei." 

"How'd you know it wasn't something else?" 

Jeff rolled his eyes and gestured for Kent to take his turn. "Let's see," he said, "you are suddenly a fuck ton happier and have plans with mysterious friends everyday after work, I finally meet aforementioned friends and figure out you're sleeping with said friends - why'd you think I invited Alexei and not Sarah or Lewis and Clark to dinner at my place a few weeks ago?" he asked without waiting for a response before continuing. "Then you suddenly aren't looking at your phone and smiling all the time and there's a lot more pictures of Kit on her Instagram. I'm not as oblivious as everyone would like to think." 

Kent chose to ignore the jibe. "Do you really think I should try to fix things?" 

"OH MY GOD," Jeff said exasperatedly, "YES you fucking idiot." 

Kent rolled his eyes, Jeff could be such an ass, but maybe he was right about this.  

 

He chickened out the next day and the day after that and when Monday rolled around and he still hadn't talked to Alexei, Kent feared Jeff would take things into his own hands if he didn't do something soon. After practice on Tuesday Kent went straight to Alexei's and actually managed to get out of his car this time. The front door was propped open by a box from someone moving out or in so Kent didn't have to be buzzed up. He walked up to Alexei's floor and stood outside of his door for an embarrassingly long time. 

Finally he got up the courage to knock. He'd practiced what to say in front of his mirror for an hour this morning, but when Alexei opened the door with his hair sticking up every which way and dark circles around his eyes, every word Kent knew left his brain. 

"Kenny?" Alexei asked, rubbing his eye. "What are you doing here?" he asked. He sounded pissed, which was fair, Kent supposed, but still this would be a lot easier if Alexei wasn't pissed. 

Kent cleared his throat. "I came here to apologize. I shouldn't have overreacted when you told me you knew who I was." 

Alexei sighed. "Okay, apology accepted." He started to shut the door and Kent panicked. 

"I also wanted to ask if we could go back - to how things were before I messed everything up." Alexei opened his mouth to speak but he didn't look happy and Kent couldn't let him say no - he really really couldn't. "I mean - not exactly how things were before obviously because we were both hiding things from each other and that probably wasn't exactly healthy. Plus like before I was insistent on just being friends who sometimes slept together but what I'm trying to say is that like maybe we could be," Kent waved his hand around in an aborted motion, trying to come up with the words. "Maybe we could be like, you know... more," he finished lamely.  

The small smile that had been on Alexei's face when Kent started rambling grew into a boisterous grin. "You are wanting to date me," Alexei said, smugly. 

Kent fingered the brim of his cap and bit his tongue to resist the urge to deny it (and ruin everything). "Well," Kent swallowed, "uh, yeah."

Alexei's smile grew impossibly wider. "That is good thing because I am wanting to date you too." 

Kent lunged forward and kissed him. Alexei stumbled back into the apartment arms full of Kent. Kent kicked the door closed behind him and dug his hands deep into Alexei's hair, tugging gently. Alexei moaned into the kiss and _god_ Kent'd missed this. After they'd migrated to the bedroom Kent pulled away from Alexei suddenly. 

"I"m still, like I'm still not out - I mean my mom and sister know and my friend Jeff figured it out but - I don't know when I'll be _out_ out but I just didn't want to mislead you or -" 

He was cut off by Alexei's tongue being shoved down his throat. "Is okay, as long I can call you boyfriend, I am not caring." 

Kent smiled; he liked the sound of that. 

 

Two weeks later, after a string of away games Kent jolted awake up off of Alexei's chest to the sound of his phone ringing. Alexei woke up enough to slap his alarm clock (which was not making a sound) before patting at Kent. "Make stop." 

"Hello," Kent said, voice thick with sleep. 

"Mr. Parson," the brisk authoritative voice of Jenny, the head of PR made Kent instantly alert. "I wouldn't be bothering you at home so early if it weren't important, but a video of you was leaked." 

"What is the video of," Kent asked, Alexei sat upright suddenly much more awake and looked at Kent questioningly. 

Jenny cleared her throat, "Well in it you - you appear to be making out with another man. Now it's got a clear shot of your face so we aren't going to be able to deny it was you," she said, all business, "but it's up to you how you want to proceed with this. The organization is behind you 100%." 

"I have - I have to go," Kent said, hanging up before Jenny could protest. 

"What is matter?" Alexei asked as soon as Kent hung up. 

Kent ignored him and pulled up google on his phone, quickly tapping in his own name. The entire first page of results were filled with titles like, _Video Released of_   _Kent Parson Kissing a Man, NHL Hockey Player Comes Out, Is the Captain of the Aces Gay?, Las Vegas Aces Captain is 1st Gay NHL Player - What This Means for the Team and the League._

Kent's heart was racing as he clicked on one of the links that boasted video access. It was the camera from his apartment building's elevator and Kent's stomach sank. Alexei peered over his shoulder and he gasped softly when they came into the frame. It wasn't a grainy picture from afar even, his swanky apartment building has only the best, and the picture quality reflected it - thank fuck there wasn't audio. At first they were standing a respectable distance apart, then the door closed and they lunged at each other. Kent's hands were all over Alexei and he was practically bent in half from the force of the kiss. Kent tapped the screen, the video goes on for an excruciating 3 minutes and 42 seconds. 

 

Kent got a bunch of calls as the day wore on and more people he knew read an article or saw the video. And while it was a little embarrassing that both his and Alexei's mother saw a video of their sons making out, neither of them seemed to mind. Alexei's mother apparently even tried to offer sex tips in Russian that Alexei refused to translate. Kent was trying to keep from reading most of the articles, but he'd never been that great at impulse control. While some articles (and comments) were horrible, a surprising number were actually on his side. Saying that outing him without his consent was a dick move, and the security guy from his building - who'd apparently released the video after being fired - should face criminal charges. Kent didn't think anything would come of that, but the sentiment was nice all the same. 

Around three in the afternoon while he was still holed up in Alexei's apartment since he'd been excused from practice - his phone rang with an unknown number. 

"Kenny?"

"Zimms?" Kent asked voice colored with disbelief. 

"Yeah, hi," Kent could practically see Jack shifting awkwardly through the line. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, I heard about what happened." 

Jack reaching out to him and calling him was something Kent had wished for for years, but now that it was actually happening he realized he didn't need it - not anymore. Kent settled back into the warm cocoon of Alexei's arms. "Yeah, I'm good man. It was a shitty way for it to happen, but I'm happy you know?" Kent looked up at Alexei, "I'm really happy." 

"Good," Jack said, sounding like he knew exactly what Kent was talking about. "I'm glad Kenny. Maybe next time you're playing Providence you can come out to Samwell and we can catch up?" 

Kent smiled. "I'd like that." 

Once Kent hung up, Alexei pulled him into his arms and kissed him on his forehead. "Are you being okay, Parsnip?" Alexei asked. 

Kent shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "I feel sort of numb. I guess I'll have to make a statement about everything soon." 

Alexei leaned in and pecked his cheek, "At least you not have to worry about one thing anymore." 

Kent looked at Alexei, "And what's that?"

"Kit is no longer more interesting to media than you." 

A bubble of laughter escaped Kent. He turned to face Alexei and tackled him to the couch. "Oh my god, I love you," he said, bending down to kiss Alexei. 

He didn't even realize what he said until Alexei frozen beneath him. "You are in love with me?" 

Kent felt a flush creep up his neck but kept his gaze steady and nodded. "Yeah, yeah I am." 

Alexei smiled and flipped them over so he hovered above Kent. "I love you too." 

Butterflies took flight in Kent's chest as Alexei peppered him with kisses, trying to speak in between the soft press of his lips to skin. "I am in love with you for so long, but not saying because I am not wanting to scare you away." Alexei's kisses began to trail down his jaw and Kent squirmed in anticipation.

His heart felt so full it'd burst. "I love you," he repeated, just because he could.  

 

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like if Kent is from upstate New York he says fucker, like a lot. Hope you guys enjoy it, I know I enjoyed writing it. Any kudos and comments are greatly appreciated.
> 
> Translations:   
> котенок - kitten  
> моя любовь - my love  
> он не мой парень - He isn't my boyfriend  
> Вы думаете, что я не могу сказать, ты - You think I can't tell you're in love with that boy   
> не смей мне врать - Don't you dare lie to me  
> Вы говорите о своем друге все время. Я называю в семь часов утра, и он находится в вашей постели. Я не глуп, не действуют, как будто я - You talk about your friend all the time. I call at 7 in the morning and he is in your bed. I am not stupid, don't act as though I am  
> это диван - It's a couch   
> какие - What  
> Это не кровать это диван- It's not a bed, it's a couch


End file.
